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Apocryphal Policy
See Also: '''Apocrypha: An article that defines the concept and terms of Apocrypha within the VU. The following is to provide some additional guidance to any contributors who are looking to add content and provide new material to the wiki. Please consult before making any contributions. For the purposes of the Visionary Universe Wiki, apocryphal material, or simply apocrypha, refers to any material which has not been confirmed as canon material. Canon material is content, facts, events, concepts, etc. which have been clearly shown in published or distributed Visionary Universe productions. That content, once revealed, or established in published work, thus becomes authoritative and establishes itself as 'fact' in the Visionary Universe. When such is referenced in the wiki, referring only to facts specifically revealed in the stories themselves, than that reference content is also considered canon, and thus authoritative. Thus any material not firmly established directly in such published works is by definition apocryphal. Original material, or creative content created for the purposes of this wiki, revealing or defining anything not firmly established in an actual story, is also thus defined as apocryphal material. However the intent of the wiki is to consider material included herein to be as canonical as possible, depending on the intent, nature and type of the material being discussed. As a result, the level of 'apocryphal status' of any material created within the wiki can be broken into several categories based on type of material. Below is a listing of those categories, definitions of what material fits within them and guidelines for creating content within each of those categories. These should be considered only in application to creating content and material within the scope and confines of the reference Wikia. Production Related Reference Canon Based Reference Material Any content created for the wiki which directly references material established in official Visionary Universe productions would be considered the most likely to be considered canon. For example, Encyclopedia or Chronicles entries created to outline and reference events and information revealed in a published / distributed story, which reflect only the directly observed facts, are thus going to be considered as canonical as the story they reference. In order to create entries which reflect the most in terms of canon, one should create the entries from a typical news style perspective. In other words, entries should contain only the 'facts' and refrain from speculation. For example, a more canon reflective entry would reference a fight between two characters which was portrayed in a given story relating only directly observed incidents. Were the entry to speculate as to mood, intent, or feelings in the characters not directly stated or observed, or to specify injuries or damages not specifically defined in the story, the entry then strays from being merely canon based reference. This type of reference material is the core focus of Primary Source Articles and forms the basis for the wiki project in general. Actual story content should in some way relate to all Secondary Source Articles as well, even if that relationship is by way of the story inspiring the article. All such canon based reference should be fully documented, in terms of wiki links to all relevant content that should receive or have received an entry in the wikia. They should also include notation of what productions were referenced using the standard notation, listing the reference by production title enclosed in ( ) following the relevant content. '''Example: *SoulStar awoke, startled from his dreams, finding himself in bed. (SoulStar Volume I:The Dreaming) Production Originated Apocryphal Material This form of apocryphal material is any material first mentioned in the actual contents of a story then referenced herein. It is classified as apocrypha if the reference is of events not directly witnessed, such as a character referring to their backstory, or writings mentioned in the context of a story that reveal certain beliefs, theories or 'facts', but no evidence is provided. When referenced within the Wiki, this type of apocrypha should include reference to the source of the information. For example, "According to..." listing the name of the source, then listing the content itself would be a way of annotating content derived from statements or writings referenced in a story, making it clear where they originate from. This type of material then is considered as canonical as the source and content in the story itself and will only be contradicted when or if that information is directly disproven in a later story. This type of apocrypha should be fully referenced and properly annotated in all relevant Primary Source Articles and can appear in the context of Secondary Source Articles. It should likewise include wiki links to all entries and an enclosed reference link to the production in which the material was referred to, listing the title enclosed in ( ). Example: *According to SoulStar his dreams were memories returning after his 20 years of amnesia. (SoulStar Volume I:The Dreaming) Original Reference Material By the very nature of the Visionary Universe Wiki, readers and fans are invited to add original Creative Content and in so doing, create reference originated apocrypha. This type of material can be broken into three types. Each type is listed and defined below with guidelines applicable to creating content or entries which fit into the given type. The types are listed in highest to lowest order in terms of considering them canonical. Supplementary Material Since the Visionary Universe will expand creatively through commercial production and distribution of stories set within it, primarily, new story material should originate within those productions. This opportunity is more to deepen and enrich the VU through the addition of Supplementary Material, not necessarily considered 'story worthy'. When creating supplementary material that enriches or deepens the knowledge and insights on a character or other concept's history, background or detail, the idea is to maintain that information as accurate unless it was mistaken originally, or would be conflicted by elements or stories already in planning and too far along to change to reflect the added content. More specifically, by way of example, this could refer to material created in the wiki which outlines a character's favorite foods, family tree, or the previously unrevealed cultural traditions of a race or species. These types of references are generally non-story oriented, and more supplementary material oriented. This type of apocrypha may be found throughout in both Primary Source Articles and Secondary Source Articles. This type of material will be easy to identify in all reference work as it will lack any story based annotations or references, thus identifying it as original content to the wiki. However, it should still contain wiki links to all wiki entries or any specifics created that could also be developed into their own full entries. Speculative Apocrypha This type of apocrypha is more intentional apocryphal material that allows contributors to push the limits in reference. It is when a contributor intentionally projects the future or past of the focus of an article, such as a character, land, object, or group. This type of apocrypha takes elements, hints, subtle facts revealed and uses them as a base to either guess at mysteries or secrets about the source, or to project forward or backward in the history of the source. This type of material is written with the understanding that very likely it will eventually be disputed and disproven, then removed. However, such types of material can provide speculation and incite interest among fans and contributors. Such speculative apocrypha should be referenced and annotated in such a way as to set it off from more traditional reference or original, supplementary material reference. This should be done first and foremost by including the information under the general Apocrypha heading at the bottom of all main entries. Such a heading can always be added when a contributor wishes to add content under it. The Apocryhpa heading should always be at the end of an article. The information should also be introduced or alluded to as speculative, or unconfirmed. For example, such speculative content could be introduced by a statement similar to, "some legends indicate..." or "some sources refer to..." both of which clearly establishes and sets off that what follows is pure speculation. This type of reference can be included in Primary Source Articles though, again, mainly in the Apocrypha section, as well as Secondary Source Articles. Apocryphal Entries From time to time, contributors may strongly wish to create an entry which bears little or no connection in any way to established Visionary Universe Canon. In essence, this could represent the desire of an individual or group to lobby for a development or addition to the Visionary Universe which constitutes a wholly new concept or element. In such cases, such entries should be categorized under the Category:Apocryphal Entries. When doing so, contributors are reminded that the inclusion of such material does not necessarily mean it will be incorporated into Visionary Universe Canon. Further contributors should be aware that if such elements are incorporated into the Visionary Universe Canon, while they may be credited, and / or compensated as possible, Visionary Comics Studio retains full rights to utilize those elements, develop as it sees fit, and possesses no legal obligation to the contributors under the agreement of the Wiki. Finally, contributors should be aware that independently arrived elements or concepts could reflect work and / or concepts already in development behind the scenes, and that indeed, use of such concepts may have originated out of the creative offices of Visionary Comics Studio, its employees, freelancers or partners. For example, if someone chooses to create an entry on Vampires in the Visionary Universe prior to a vampire story being published, that's all well and good. However, it should not be inferred that because someone does, that it means that no one associated with the formal development of the Visionary Universe has not already intended to introduce vampires into the VU. Important Note: All intentionally Apocryphal Entries, especially ones which introduce brand new, non-related ideas to the VU should ONLY be categorized as Category:Apocryphal Entries. This will help keep them set off from the main body of the reference and not confuse readers. General Comments In general, apocryphal material will be open to discussion and debate until final decisions are made from moderators, or facts are more clearly established in a published or produced project. Apocryphal material of all types generated within the reference itself is done with the understanding that it may either be eventually deleted when disproven, or may actually fall in line with actual plans for a concept or property in the Visionary Universe, and that in such cases, the intent of the material most likely pre-existed any such speculation. Additional Resources *Apocrypha: An article on apocrypha in the Visionary Universe as a concept *Category:Apocryphal Entries: A Category listing of specifically created apocryphal entries *Canon and Canon Policy: For detailed articles on the flip-side of Apocrypha *Wikipedia Article on Apocrypha, which focuses on Biblical Apocrypha, or apocryphal writings which is where the general use of the term derives Category:Admin Category:Guidelines Category:Site Information